Lentinos Story:

The year was 1973 and I was 9 years old.  I was taking swimming lessons at New Trier High School.  I was in the shallow end and I sank to the bottom of the pool.  Luckily the lifeguards were able to get me out and back to consciousness.  They thought I had hyperventilated.  Two weeks later while in the deep end, once again I was pulled from the swimming pool.  I came back to consciousness on my own but not without scaring a few lifeguards.  I was taken to the doctors and was seen by a neurologist who put me on Dilatin.  He had seen some tiny abnormalities on my brain wave test (EEG).

 

In 1975 I was taken off of Dilatin in hopes that everything was okay.  In 1976, Mother’s Day, I became weak while swimming and was sick with flu like symptoms for a couple of days.  In September of the same year I had another episode in the pool.  Episodes like this continued to occur in January 1977 while running and July 1979 while diving in the pool.  In July my father had quite enough of this and wanted some answers.  He had an ambulance take me to the Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio where we were currently living. My Dad was onto something as you will find out later.  He had both the cardiologist and the neurologist review my case.  They found nothing in the EEG or the ECG and decided it could be syncope or a seizure.  With that they put me back on medicine, this time Phenobarbital. 

 

I continued on medicine until my sophomore year of college (1983) when the doctor felt I could have outgrown the seizures and that my brain was fully developed.  In 1984 my father passed away and this really changed my life.  In the fall I returned to school episode and medicine free.  However this did not last long.  In September while running stairs at Volleyball practice I passed out.  Again I was taken to the hospital, nothing was discovered and I was released.

 

I week or so later I was still feeling very tired and not myself.  I was sent to a neurologist with no concurrent findings but he felt maybe a 24-hour halter was a good idea.  I was told to run the stairs that evening in hope of getting an episode on tape.  Well I did not pass out but I became very weak and sick.  I returned the halter to the doctor’s office and they said they would call me with results.  I was called on a Sunday and was told, “do not walk up flights of stairs or go running please lay low”.  They had finally caught my arrhythmia on tape.  I went to a specialist, Dr. Thomas Bump and he diagnosed me with Long QT syndrome, ten years since my first syncope and lucky to be alive. 

 

2010 - I am now 46 years old have been episode free for 26 years.  I take Nadalol (Corgard) daily and can lead a pretty normal life.  I have been married for 21 years and have three children, Mary Kate,Anne  and James. My daughters have Long QT Syndrome and  are involved in fun activities such as theatre, dance and singing.

 

We have become involved with SADS and this foundation has allowed us to meet others who have this livable but life threatening disease. I try and let my children know the severity of our disease but I also want them to live life and love living it each day.

 

We feel supporting Bryson, as our SADS climber,  in the Climb to Conquer, will bring awareness to many heart arthmia diseases.  Through this awareness we hope to be able allow more people to live a  life that may have otherwise been shortened.

The Chicago QT's is a group of,mostly Chicago families, affected by this disease. One family has lost a son to this, another recently diagnosed and us who have been aware of it for 20 plus years.

 

Please concider  helping us out with a contribution to SADS.  If at this time a montery donation is not what you are able to contribute we always need prayers for the climbers safety and the success of this fundraiser.

Just like our Chicago Blackhawks, winners of the Stanley Cup, we would love  to be winners in this fight against heart disease.

Thank you - Sharon Lentino and the Chicago QT's

 

Thank you for joining our campaign to save lives by raising money to continue patient family support and SADS education programs. Several thousand young people die unnecessarily each year from SADS (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes) in the United States, and education is the answer.

Funds raised through the Climb to Conquer SADS will:

 

• Provide Family Support to assist patients and their families in making informed medical decisions and living with the challenges of these conditions
• Increase General Awareness of Warning Signs to recognize and prevent heart rhythm abnormalities
• Educate Health Care Professionals in early diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm abnormalities
• Be Advocates to increase arrhythmia research and improve the quality of life for patients and their families.

Please see the link below for more information about Climb and the SADS Foundation. Climb and the SADS Foundation Information